Royal Dutch Shell Invests in Tennessee Solar

When President Trump formulated his “American Energy Dominance” message, he may not have had the power of global oil and gas producers in mind. Europe’s Statoil is moving forward with its Empire offshore wind farm hard by the New York City shoreline, and now a unit of Royal Dutch Shell has acquired a major stake in the Tennessee-based solar developer Silicon Ranch. As overseas global oil and gas companies plow more investment dollars into the U.S. renewable energy market, the Energy Dominance theme is getting muddied. The theme is generally understood to support U.S. fossil fuel development, but it’s difficult to make the pitch for “America First” when domestic energy assets are owned or leased by companies headquartered elsewhere. To make matters worse for the Trump Administration, the rise of renewable energy is putting the squeeze on fossil fuel production here in the U...